Most people of a certain age have a Red Nose Day memory from their school years.

Perhaps it was the infamous Soak the Teacher event, the day you got to go to school in your pyjamas or maybe the time you saw your dad and his work colleagues sitting in a bath of baked beans?

Since its launch on Christmas Day in 1985, people across the city have helped to raise millions for Comic Relief.

They were spurred on to do “something funny for money” by Dudley comedian Lenny Henry as part of Red Nose Day, which began in 1988.

We all remember those images of children in Africa and on the streets of Britain who desperately needed our help and then the heart-warming videos of how the money raised had worked to make a difference.

Lenny Henry was joined by Birmingham funnyman Jasper Carrott, who regularly got involved in Midland fund-raising – our picture here shows him doing the conga with pupils from St Wilfrid Martineau School in Tile Cross in 1991.

Jasper Carrott did the conga with pupils at Sir Wilfred Martineau School, Tile Cross on July 8 1991

There were car washes and cake sales, fancy dress days and funny school newsletters.

Everything was sponsored, from walks and bike rides to sleepovers and silences.

Salesman John Cogger braved sitting in two hundred gallons of custard for Comic Relief at the Currys store in Ward End whilst being interviewed by Jenny Wilkes of Radio WM in 1991. Try keeping a straight face throughout that one!

In the early Nineties, Thorpes Restaurant next to Birmingham Hippodrome donated £250 to Comic Relief for every major star who ate in their restaurant while solicitors from Williamson and Soden swapped their suits for shorts and suspenders as they ran and cycled to raise cash.

Staff from the Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club in Meriden made it all the way up to Scotland dressed as criminals!

Lisa Harrison, Glyn Harris and Julie McLean, from the Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club, made their way to Scotland dressed as criminals for Comic Relief Day on March 14, 1991

Who remembers boy band Right Said Fred?

Fred Fairbrass and his brother filmed a special show for Comic Relief at Pebble Mill in 1993, donning the obligatory red noses.

And, in the same year, pupils from King Edward VI Five Ways School in Bartley Green juggled up Mount Snowdon to raise funds for the charity.

How we laughed.

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Lenny Henry wearing his red nose in 1995

Comic Relief Highlights of the last 30 years

Christmas Day 1985: Inspired by Live Aid, Comic Relief is launched live on BBC One from the Safawa refugee camp in Sudan during Noel Edmonds’ Late Late Breakfast Show.

February 1986: Cliff Richard and The Young Ones release Livin’ Doll in aid of Comic Relief. It sells more than half a million copies and goes straight to number one.

December 1987: Comic Relief’s second single, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Mel Smith and Kim Wilde sees more money raised and peaks at number three in the chart.

February 1988: Lenny Henry, a group of children in Ethiopia and over 150 celebrities and comedians take part in the First Red Nose Day as 30 million viewers watch a huge night of TV and raise over £15 million.

September 1990: Video Relief takes place – a competition for young people to make videos about issues like poverty and homelessness. It was won by one Edgar Wright, who went on to direct cult zombie film Shaun of the Dead.

July 1996: Fourteen brave celebrity football enthusiasts, including Frank Skinner, David Essex, Nick Hancock and Angus Deayton, go on tour in Burkino Faso and Ghana to play footie and make a TV documentary called Balls to Africa.

July 2005: Robbie Williams joins Make Poverty History in London for one of ten Live8 concerts across the world. An estimated 3.8 billion tune in to watch and help encourage G8 leaders into greatly relieving the debts of the world’s poorest countries.